


Remember

by Pizza_Mia



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, One Shot, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21534382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pizza_Mia/pseuds/Pizza_Mia
Summary: She swore to herself that she would remember him.
Relationships: Jack Frost & Jack's Sister
Comments: 6
Kudos: 103





	Remember

She remembers the crack of ice. It was so cold, so terribly cold and there was the Lake with ice on top and it looked so pretty and Jack promised to take her ice-skating for her birthday present. She remembers feeling so happy and excited. She remembers what happened _after_.  She remembers every single detail of that terrible day. She remembers Mommy telling them to ‘be careful’ and Jack _ promising _ that they will. 

She broke that promise.

She remembers how she went further than she was supposed to. She remembers seeing the fear in Jack’s eyes, mirrored in her own, as the ice beneath her feet starts breaking.  She remembers feeling scared, so scared that she can’t move.

Then Jack telling her that everything's okay and to focus on him. The ice cracks and she can’t breathe and she doesn’t wanna die, like daddy did. Jack steps forward and the ice cracks under his feet, but he still focuses on her, promising that she will be alright.  _ That he won’t let her fall in. _

Jack said that instead, they will have fun. Fun is good, like warm food in her stomach and feeling happy inside. But this is scary and not fun. She hates herself for her next mean words. 

She yells at Jack that he always plays trick and that this is another trick. But Jack is not mad at her. Instead, he looks her in the eye and  _ promises _ that she will be fine.  _ You have to believe in me _ , he had said, and at that moment, the fear left slowly and she did believe. 

Nothing else mattered but Jack.

Jack says that they are gonna play hopscotch. She smiles because hopscotch is fun and Jack always plays with her hopscotch. Every day as far as she could remember. Jack goes first. She barely notices the crack-crack-crack under Jack’s feet because he pretends to fall, with that face Mommy calls the ‘funny’ face that Jack always does whenever he wants to make her laugh.

That’s when she stopped being afraid. She felt warm and safe and she laughed.

_ 1..2..3.. _

It’s her turn. Jack picks up the long wooden stick that he always carries. She puts one leg forward. Crack! The fear comes back. But she goes on, because Jack  _ promised _ her that she will be safe. 1… 2… 3… The next thing she knows, Jack uses the curvy end of the wooden stick to grab her and pull her forwards towards him.

She falls face-first onto the ice and slides forward but it doesn’t hurt. She looks up and Jack is smiling at her and the warm fuzzy feeling comes back and she smiles too. Jack laughs and then - Crack-crack-crack! - he _falls_.

She remembers screaming Jack’s name, even as the lake swallowed her brother.  And after that, everything becomes one big blur and she can’t think straight but she remembers running home and screaming Mommy’s name and begging her mother to save Jack. She remembers the alarmed cries from the village people and how they had rushed to the lake. 

She remembers how they had not returned with Jack. 

She remembers the days after, when Mommy cried and cried and screamed when she thought that Emma wasn’t listening. She remembers how everything was so grey and sad and no Jack. She remembers everybody telling her how sorry they were.  She remembers the whispers at the funeral, when they buried Jack’s favourite things instead of Jack, because the lake stole her brother forever. She remembers everyone saying how Emma and Jack should not have gone to the lake, how they should have been more careful.

But Emma knows better. It was not her brother’s fault, it was always hers.

\------ -----

_ “It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t look down, just at me.” _

But where Jack? Where are you?

The Lake calls her too. Maybe it wants to eat her too, just like Jack. There’s snow outside. She can hear other children playing, but not Jack. She panics because she can’t hear him anywhere. Jack was her brother, her best friend and her everything!

She hated the snow from taking Jack, hated the stupid moon that looked like it was smiling down at her, hated the sad, pitying looks from other people. She wants Jack.

So one night, when Mommy sleeps, Emma gets out of bed. She opens the door quietly, so not to wake Mommy, and walks through the damp snow. She heads towards the Lake, towards Jack. It’s cold, like always, and she shivers in the meagre, tattered remains of her best snow clothes. 

Determinedly, she forges on. The Lake that stole her brother looms in front of her. The surface is frozen solid but she knows that it is a lie. It is a trap and the ice can shatter at any moment and take more people away. She kneels just at the edge.

“Jack Jack JackJackJack.” She chants, willing her brother to come back. He doesn’t and by dawn, she is left staring into the depths of the lake, tears rolling down her face. She thinks she imagine it but for a moment, it feels like the wind is caressing her face lovingly.

\------ -----

_ “Let’s play a game. We’ll play hopscotch, like we play everyday.”  _

She stops playing anymore. Mommy begs her to, her friends beg her too but she can’t. She can’t. Because Jack played a game of hopscotch with her and he was gone. She scared, so scared that if she plays a game with someone else, they will leave too.

People try to make her play, giving her toys and presents and new things. But how? How could she play catch, knowing that her brother wouldn’t be there to catch the ball? How could she play tag, knowing that Jack won’t be there to save her when she trips?

How how how how howhowhow?

Time doesn’t mean anything to here anymore. Christmas and Easter and everything else is colourless without Jack. For every Easter egg she finds and every gift she gets, she knows that Jack would never have that chance.

She walks by other children. They play hopscotch. It leaves a nasty, aching feeling in her heart.

\------ -------

_ “You’re gonna be alright, you’re not gonna fall in.” _

People move on and Jack becomes nothing more than a cautionary tale that parents tell their children. She can’t and doesn’t want to move on.  Jack was her life. He died because of her, because she was dumb enough to walk on thin ice. She will never forget Jack. Never. 

The pain and the grief that comes with remembering is good. It means that Jack is still a big part of her. She doesn’t want to let go of that. Except that… it  _ hurts _ so much.

She finds herself feeling so empty and tired. Nothing makes sense. One night, she is alone in the house and Mother is coming home late. It is there, as she stares into the fire, that the thought of hurting herself crawls into her mind, like a dark whisper leeching on to her soul, promising relief and punishment that she longs for but no one will grant her, because they all think that it is not her fault.

But it is. 

She spies the small, sharp knife that Mother left on the small counter surface. Impulsively, she reaches over and holds it. It is heavy in her hands and she weighs it uncertainly. Something holds her back because she knows that if she uses it, she won’t quit and one day, the red will pour and pour and she won’t be able to stop it.

She realises that she is drowning, like Jack, except Jack drowned in the Lake and she is drowning in her sorrows and guilt. 

No, she thinks, putting back the blade. Jack wouldn’t want her to do this.

\------- ------

_ “Believe in me.” _

Once, she gets a glimpse of a smiling, white-haired boy with mischievous blue eyes. Their eyes meet and the iron fist around her heart loosens and for the first time in years, she breathes freely. The toxic brew of guilt and pain and grief eases, falling away from her like seasons peeling off another.

“Jack,” She murmurs, though no one hears her but the Wind. “I believe in you.”

**Author's Note:**

> ...Sorry? 
> 
> This sort of... happened.


End file.
